What is Telstra doing?

  • Sitting on the sidelines with a vested interest being a small Telstra shareholder I am trying to figure out where is Telstra going?
  • Successive governments and communication ministers have fallen out with Telstra.
  • The 3 amigos have had 4 years to work there magic. Maybe I'm missing something
  • The share price has gone no where in years (see below June - Dec 2008)

 
  • Telstra still labels 256K as broadband (others offer the same Flintstone like service and it should be made illegal as it deceives the public)  
  • High Speed Networks tenders have come and gone
    • Credit where credit is due the Telstra Wireless High Speed Network is a cut above the rest, but you pay for it.

Let's examine the fall outs.

 First Telstra fell out with John Howard's Liberal Communications Minister Helen Coonan. The fall out was so bad almost a complete disconnect with the communications minister and Telstra ensured.

 It seemed perhaps Telstra was playing a clever game betting an election defeat for the Liberal Government at the forthcoming elections would mean a new dealer at the table. More scope for growth and having Australia’s biggest telecommunications company tender and win the building the new ‘high speed network.

  Hopes were high and investors rejoiced at a Labour win. In stepped Stephen Conroy as the new governments Communications Minister. Forget the past the endless fighting with the government perhaps the time was now right to deliver investors a winning hand. Alas as quickly as Conway stepped in the high hopes of investors were dashed.

 Worst communications minister in 20 years and such comments abounded. Great here we go again. Maybe Sol Trujillo and his cronies were being clever once again. Surely they were going to come out with a winning punch and snatch the much talked about high speed broadband network tender and deliver shareholders some happiness.

 Nope didn't even make a compliant tender bid. What? Everybody knows if you don't make a compliant bid you can't hope to win the tender. What were they thinking? Oh here we go again let's take the government to court and show them whose boss. Hmm am I missing something? This seems like fighting words to me?

 Ultimately if this court action is unsuccessful and I have gut feeling it will, surely time will be called on the Sol Trujillo experiment. He can't be too surprised or upset , reports suggest he's been earning around  $11 million a year.

 A Prime Minster that fails to deliver is gone in 4 years. The average tenure for a US CEO is 18 months.